


Lycanthropy

by positivelypond



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Acceptance, Friendship, Gen, Marauders' Era, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, Werewolf Remus Lupin, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 14:24:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17205038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/positivelypond/pseuds/positivelypond
Summary: Just as he reached the door, her voice rang out again.“I know.”Remus froze for the second time in a less than a minute. They were alone in the classroom, so there was no chance that she was speaking to anyone but him.





	Lycanthropy

**Author's Note:**

> My take on how Lily discovers Remus' secret

Remus Lupin was a quiet boy. Some might even say that he was an odd boy. Between being an only child and being socially isolated from a young age, he had never quite gotten the hang of interacting with others in an age appropriate manner. This in turn made him even more socially isolated and from there on the cycle just continued.

This isolation continued during his time at Hogwarts. He made friends with the boys he shared a dormitory with, but unlike them he didn’t make any other friends. Instead he spent his time reading and doing homework, always either trying to get ahead or catch up when a particularly rough full moon left him unable to work on his essays for a few days. It had gotten better during his second year when his friends had discovered his secret and had started sharing their notes with him whenever he missed class, but as the summer holidays were coming to an end and his third year was fast approaching, he ran into a previously unthought of problem. With third year came electives and with electives came the possibility that he would have classes that he didn’t share with any of his friends.

This was how Remus found himself sitting alone at a desk waiting for his first Ancient Runes-class to start. His three friends had all chosen to do Divination, insisting that it would be an easy Outstanding, and although Remus had briefly considered joining them, he ultimately decided against it. Not only because he held little respect for the subject, but also because he realized that doing so would be letting his lycanthropy control his life, something he had long ago promised both his mother and himself that he would never do.

As other students started taking their seats around him, the seat next to Remus remained empty. Right as he had resigned himself to sitting alone for the next three years, a familiar voice called out his name.

“Remus! Oh, thank Merlin, I thought I was going to be the only Gryffindor in this class!”

Lily Evans rushed over, setting her bag down on the table. She pointed to the empty seat next to him.

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” he said, reaching over to pull the chair out. “I was actually beginning to wonder if someone had stuck a ‘Leave me alone’-sign on my back or something.”

Lily leaned back in her chair to peek at Remus’ back and he laughed. “I’m joking, Lily. I doubt anyone would do something like that.”

She turned to face him again, one eyebrow raised. “You do live with Potter and Black.”

“That is an excellent point.”

Just then Professor Babbling stood up at the front of the room to begin teaching and both Lily and Remus turned to face her.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

It was a week later as they were packing up their things to head to Transfiguration that Lily turned to Remus.

“I’ll make a copy of my notes on Thursday and get them to you before the next class.”

Remus froze. Wednesday was a full moon, so he would be missing all his classes on Thursday, but how did Lily know about that?

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Well you’re going home to visit your mum, right?” She turned to him, a small frown of confusion on her face. “Like you do every month.”

“Right, of course. Yes, I actually am, so that would be great. Thank you.” He shoved the rest of his things into his bag haphazardly and turned to hurry out before Lily could ask any more questions. Just as he reached the door, her voice rang out again.

“I know.”

Remus froze for the second time in a less than a minute. They were alone in the classroom, so there was no chance that she was speaking to anyone but him.

“I know your mum isn’t sick, Remus,” Lily elaborated. Her voice was closer this time and he realized that she was now standing less than 10 feet away.

Finally regaining his ability to speak, he cleared his throat and schooled his features into a frown of confusion, before turning to face her.

“What do you mean? Of course she is. Has been since I was 4 years old.”

Lily raised her eyebrow at him again, clearly not believing a word he was saying. He looked down at his feet, brain desperately scrambling for a way out of this.

“I also know that you are the one who’s sick.”

The sound of his pulse that had been getting louder and louder in his ears since Lily and first called out to him suddenly seemed to disappear completely. He felt his hands go completely numb and knew that all the blood had drained from his upper body. It took him almost a full minute before he dared to look up at her. He didn’t know what he was expecting to see, but it wasn’t the soft smile that met him when he finally looked at her again. He frowned, but before he could say anything, Lily spoke up again.

“Lycanthropy, right?”

He blinked, mouth and brain finally reconnecting.

“Please, please, please don’t tell anyone before I’ve packed my things. Just give me half an hour and I promise I’ll be out of here and you won’t ever have to see me again. Please. Please just give me half an hour. Fifteen minutes even. I’ll hur-“.

“Remus! Would you stop talking nonsense for just a second?”

He stopped talking, not because she had asked him to, but because the tone of her voice wasn’t anything like what he had expected.

“No one is packing anything. No one is going anywhere. I’m not going to tell anyone, I just … Wanted you to know that I know. That you can trust me.”

“But –“ he began, not getting any further than that when Lily once again interrupted him.

“But nothing! Remus, I don’t care that you’re sick. I just want to share my Ancient Runes-notes with you once a month. That’s all.” She took a step toward him and he flinched.

When she spoke again, her voice sounded different. Sadder. Like she might cry.

“Remus, I’m not going to hurt you, but you look like you’re about to pass out, so please just sit down, okay?” She moved toward him again, and this time he let her. She put a hand on his shoulder and quietly guided him to the nearest desk, where he sat down. She took the seat next to him and just looked at him with a soft smile.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Clearing his throat a few times, he spoke. “I- uh … Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Remus spoke again.

“How long have you known?”

Lily gave a tiny shrug. “Since first year.”

“Since first year? You’ve known since first year and you never said anything?”

Another shrug. “It wasn’t my thing to question. I only brought it up now because I wanted to offer you my notes.”

“People don’t usually care if it’s their thing to question when it comes to things like this.”

If possible, the look on Lily’s face softened even more. She reached out and covered his hand with hers.

“Well, I do.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “What I don’t care about is whether you have lycanthropy or not.”

“Why do you keep saying it like that?”

“Like what?”

“Lycanthropy”

“Well that’s what it’s called, right?”

“It is, but people usually focus a little more on the being a werewolf and not as much on the having lycanthropy.”

”Well I think people are silly.”

Remus gave her a tiny smile. ”Thanks for being so … you about this.”

She squeezed his hand and got up.

“Come on, we’re going to be late for Transfiguration and I do not want to be on McGonagall’s bad side before we’ve even handed in our first essay.”

As he got up to follow her, Remus decided that maybe, just maybe, it would be okay to have four friends instead of three.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
